Virtual personal assistants (VPAs) are devices that respond to user queries, which may be in the form of spoken queries, by searching for a response to the query of the user in a database, for example, the internet and providing the response to the user, often in the form of an audible response such as synthesized speech. VPAs may also respond to user commands to play audio from a specified audio source, for example, an internet radio station, or to control a smart device, for example, to turn on or off a light or change a setting of another smart device that the VPA has access to, for example, via Wi-Fi signals either directly or through an internet router of the user. Queries or commands are typically provided to a VPA by a user after the user says a wake up word or phrase, for example, “Alexa” that indicates to the VPA that the user is addressing the VPA. VPAs are becoming more prevalent with various companies providing competing devices, for example, the Echo™ VPA from Amazon, Google Home™ VPA from Google, and various devices incorporating the Siri™ application from Apple. Smart speaker systems may include functionality to both stream music or other audio content and to function as VPAs.